Two University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy faculty members, in partnership with the Minnesota Senior Federation, are one of five recipients of a $400,000 grant to evaluate information about prescription drugs provided to patients and their doctors. The two-year grant from the Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Program will expand and evaluate the impact of the Consumers Reports Best Buy Drug program in Minnesota, which is under the leadership of the Minnesota Senior Federation.

College of Pharmacy professors Jon Schommer, Ph.D., and Stephen Schondelmeyer, Ph.D., serve as principal grant investigators. The researchers will focus on the impact of the Consumer Reports "Best Buy Drugs" program, which provides consumer-friendly information about effectiveness, safety and cost of drugs so that patients, in consultation with their health care providers, can make informed decisions about which medications to use.

The goal of this new project is to provide support for and an evaluation of the impact of a collaborative initiative between Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs (CRBBD) and the Minnesota Senior Federation. The grant's objectives are to compare ways the Federation has done or will do to inform doctors, pharmacists and consumers about utilizing the most effective and safest medicines. 

Schommer studies how patients search for information about medications and how they use that information to make decisions about their health.

"Patients want to make the most accurate decisions regarding their health, but at the lowest cost in terms of the time and effort they must expend to do so," Schommer said.

The grant, received by Schommer and Schondelmeyer, was one of five grants awarded by the 51 U.S. attorneys general as part of the Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Program. This program was established through a 2004 settlement resolving allegations that Warner-Lambert, a division of Pfizer, Inc., violated state consumer protection laws when marketing the drug Neurontin for "off-label" uses.

"No longer will patients be led into making medication decisions based on drug companies' marketing of pretty butterflies, colorful pills or beautiful scenery," said Jean Norrbom, a consumer member of the Minnesota Best Buy steering committee. "Using the Consumers Reports Best Buy Drugs program, patients with their physician, will be able to choose medications based on the best clinical evidence of the drug's effectiveness, safety, and in many cases, cost savings."

The information is provided by Consumer Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumers Reports, through its innovative Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs program. The free, public education project provides consumers with easy-to-understand information on side effects, safety, effectiveness and cost based on the best available scientific evidence, not drug industry hype. Drug evaluations and "Best Buys" for 15 drug categories such as statins and insomnia medications, are available at www.CRBestBuyDrugs.org. Copies of CR Best Buy Drug reports are also available through the Senior Federation's Health Plan Information Center at 651/783-5045 or toll free at 866/783-5045.